Michelle Schulte matched a season high with 18 points and powered Northeast past Osborn last Friday night in one of their last chances to make a statement before districts as Northeast won 39-26. Northeast fell behind by as much as seven behind ice cold shooting early in the game before coming back to take the lead at the break and then taking over in the second half.
There was some question about whether the game would be played as Osborn boys and girls coach Harry Elder had collapsed during the previous game and had to be taken to the hospital. But Elder, one of the more colorful coaches in the area and a perfect gentleman, was back as usual for Friday’s game, dressed impeccably in a suit and tie for battle.
Northeast shot 0 for their first seven as they fell behind 5-0 in the first 2:33 of the game before Claudia Wiederholt hit Michelle Schulte at the top of the key. Michelle followed with a steal to make it tied at 5-5, but then Kelly Ramey connected twice for Osborn and Courtney Nichols added a fast break off a bad shot to make it 11-5 with 2:29 left in the first. Michelle Schulte’s free throw with 0.3 seconds left in the period cut it to 11-8, but Nichols’ 3-point play powered the young Osborn squad, with only one senior on the squad, to a 16-9 lead with 6:45 left in the second.
But once again, the tiny but deadly version of the Schulte family turned the game around, this time by hitting a timely 3-pointer off a pass from Rachel Runde that broke the run. Michelle followed with another free throw and then Kerrigan Adwell hit Sarah Bliley on the left side and then Michelle hit Rachel Runde on the left side to put Northeast back in front 17-16 at the break as they started doing a much better job of working the ball around for a good shot instead of settling for the low percentage jump shot.
It was not Mr. Elder’s lucky week; the team bus broke down on the way over to Ravenwood and they had to borrow one of Jefferson’s busses to get the kids over for the game in time. Then, his team went into a 10-minute scoring drought as Northeast began to pull away.
Michelle Schulte started off the scoring with a drive and then Claudia Wiederholt hit Taryn Farnan inside. Rachel Runde got the ball for a fast break layup to Sarah Bliley and then Michelle got a tip and Claudia got the steal for a layup. To compound Mr. Elder’s bad luck this week, one of his players scored in the wrong basket to cap the Northeast run and leave them up 27-16 with 4:30 left. And that was not all.
Elder’s charges battled back; although Michelle Schulte was getting on the line for Northeast, the Wildkats got consecutive points to close the quarter to get within nine at 31-22. But then at the start of the fourth, Kelly Ramey, Osborn’s best shooter, fouled out. The problem was that an inexperienced official had called the wrong player for a foul in the third quarter – he had whistled Ramey for a foul, but it should have been called on Nichols, who had been guarding the ball and who was reaching in on the play. It was not the only time the officials had called the wrong player for a foul; against King City in the boys game, the officials called a foul on the wrong player for Worth County, which turned out to be critical.
The game turned into a brutal slugging match in the fourth quarter with both Taryn Farnan and Osborn’s Sarah McKay getting shaken up on a collision and Farnan getting a black eye; both were able to finish the game. Earlier, Kerrigan Adwell had gotten poked in the eye earlier in the third quarter. In the absence of their best shooter, Osborn battled gamely, but could only muster a drive from Nichols to make it 32-24 as they tried extending the pressure to get the ball back, but Northeast refused to fold.
Finally, Rachel Runde stepped back to the same sweet spot from where she nailed her NBA 3-pointer against CFX and hit what turned out to be the dagger with 3:45 left in the game. Michelle Schulte added a couple of free throws and Runde hit a pullup fast break with 1:24 left to give Northeast its biggest lead of the game at 39-24.
But after all was said and done in both games, Elder greeted it with a smile and a handshake and a warm hello as he always does, still with passion for the game after all these years.
No comments:
Post a Comment